Charges against Aisha Huang are frivolous, she may get a GH¢40,000 fine – Justice Abdulai

Law lecturer, Justice Abdulai, has urged Ghanaians not to expect any drastic sanction against illegal small-scale mining (‘galamsey’) queen, Aisha Huang, for the crimes she has committed.

He said that he agrees with the assessment of the lawyer of Aisha Huang that the charges filed by the Office of the Attorney General against his client are ‘small’.

Speaking in a TV3 interview monitored by GhanaWeb, Lawyer Justice Abdulai added that the charges filed by the government against Aisha Huang will likely lead to her receiving only a fine for the crimes she has committed.

“We should manage our expectations (with regards to sentencing Aisha Huang). This is clearly because the government has not been forthright with this issue of Aisha Huang right from day one. And if you remember the comments made by Osafo-Maafo and the issues surrounding those comments and the revelations made by Kweku Baako to the effect that this lady has people in her pocket and recordings and other things, it is very difficult to believe that something fruitful will come out of it.

“This belief I hold is even fortified with the charges that have been levelled against her. With all the offences that she has committed, from the reading that I have found, she has been slapped with only 2 offences, when you can count more than five different offences that she has committed.

“The offences that she has been charged with are not offences that will necessarily take her to prison because they are finable offences. In addition to that, the fines are so minimal that she literally may pay just about GH¢ 40,000 and walk free,” he said.

Justice Abdulai added that with the kind of activities that Aisha Huang engages in, paying GH¢ 40,000 or even GH¢ 100,000 will be peanuts for her.

Meanwhile, the embattled Chinese galamsey kingpin, Aisha Huang was denied bail by the Accra Circuit Court 9 on Wednesday, September 14, 2022.

The Circuit Court adjourned the case to September 27, 2022.

Lead counsel for the accused person, Nkrabea-Effah Dartey during proceedings asked the court to grant his client and her three other Chinese counterparts bail.

Ms. Huang who is facing two charges of mining without a license and engaging in the sale and purchase of minerals without a valid license together with 3 other Chinese nationals, was remanded by the court on Monday, September 5, 2022.

After the hearing on Wednesday, Lawyer Effah Dartey said the case of Aisha Huang has been overhyped by the media following her re-arrest.

According to him, it was so much talked about that one would think the accused persons were standing a murder trial.

He said he was, however, shocked when he came to court and noticed his client has been charged with two charges which were mining without a license and the sale of minerals without a license.